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IS THERE A PARTICULAR junction in Dublin that always manages to make you break out in a cold sweat, and feel as if you’ve narrowly avoided death each time you pass it?
Our beloved fair city isn’t always an easy one to manoeuvre in a car, and there are a few spots that feel particularly stressful and irritating when you’re behind the wheel.
We’ve rounded up the worst, most hair-raising traffic spots around the city.
The location: Managing to combine six extremely busy South Dublin roads, this famous roundabout is located at the intersection of Walkinstown Road, Bunting Road, Cromswellfort Road, St Peter’s Road, Greenhills Road, Ballymount Road AND the M50.
The problem: This accident-prone stretch is particularly annoying because of its confusing layout, meaning motorists don’t often know which lane to be in (or some would argue, how to indicate).
What other people are saying:
The location: Originally the site of a massacre during the Easter Rising, North King Street, its intersection with Church Street (close to Smithfield) is particularly irritating as it combines multiple busy streams of traffic and cyclists heading in and out of the city centre.
The problem: Well, as a member of our news team noted, ”the junction is an absolute deathtrap in about three directions”.
What other people are saying:
The location: Within the heart of Dublin 8, a few hundred metres from St Patrick’s Cathedral, this intersection has a number of competing lanes from several different directions.
The problem: If you’re driving from the canal, the junction at Patrick Street can be a nightmare as Cork Street, The Coombe and Francis Street all merge. As one commuter said: “It regularly takes me as long to drive the last 2km of my journey as it does the first 18km.”
What other people are saying:
The location: Among a number of industrial zones between Ballymount and Drimnagh.
The problem: The lane layout where the Naas Road and Long Mile Road intersects is particularly complex. Though one irritated commuter told us: “The traffic jams there wouldn’t exist if people knew how to merge properly.”
What other people are saying:
The location: Just beyond the gates of the idyllic Phoenix Park, and of course the pleasant home and gardens of Michael D Higgins.
The problem: There is a particularly stressful stretch of road as you move towards Ashtown, an area which a member of our news team labelled “a death trap for drivers”.
It’s a combination of about six dangerous situations mixed into one almighty trap. Four exits converge on one large intersection. You end up with situations where there’s queues at all four exits and no lights to tell anyone definitively who has the right of way. Most people who use it are experienced with it so find a way to navigate the madness.
What other people are saying:
The location: Just between Dublin City University and Beaumont.
The problem: This particular junction is a little like multiple dual carriageways crossing into each other, made even more complicated by the inclusion of unreliable traffic lights and recently installed bollards.
As another member of our news team shares:
I’ve often seen it backed up as far as the Port Tunnel entrance. One of the big problems is the green light to turn right towards DCU. It stays green for about three seconds and so often the person at the top of the queue only realises they can go after it turns orange. So generally only two-three cars get through at a time which adds to the backlog.
What other people are saying:
Eve Butler / Twitter
Eve Butler / Twitter / Twitter
Can you think of an even worse offender you regularly encounter on your commute? Let us know in the comments section.
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I prefer mars to snickers. The past history of either is not really that important
A combination of factors Val. 4 billion years ago Mars was a much warmer place than today, as the planet had not cooled sufficiently since its formation. The interior of the planet at that time was similar to Earth’s today, i.e. a thin crust floating on a molten interior giving rise to volcanoes such as at Olympus Mons. The interior, as on Earth, is made primarily of iron, and in such instances where the core is molten, this iron creates a magnetic field (such as can be seen on Earth). The magnetic field protects the planet from solar radiation. This radiation breaks H2O molecules down into their respective parts – Oxygen and Hydrogen. With the cooling of the planet’s interior the magnetic field breaks down allowing the solar radiation in which then breaks down the H2O. The hydrogen is too light to remain on Mars’ surface (bear in mind Mars has only1/3 the gravity of Earth) and floats to the top of the atmosphere where, now that the magnetic field is gone, solar winds are allowed to tear the hydrogen away from the planet and carry it into space and ionising other particles which are also stripped away. As the atmosphere thins the planet cools even further. Any water that remains becomes locked in the rocks, any oxygen which remains ends up bound in CO2. The process is a relatively fast one. See this article from NASA on the process.
great comment
Global warming ;)
Deadly bit of news. Little bit disappointed by the artists image though. Surely Mars then wouldn’t have looked the same as now i.e. red and dusty, if it had an ocean would it? Surely it would have looked a little bit closer to our own planet. Raises serious questions about what happened there for an entire ocean to dry up also.
That would really depend on whether or not the ocean was there long enough for life to evolve. Our planet only looks like it does because of the plant life, if you look at the deserts you get an idea of how it would’ve looked if life didn’t happen. The only difference I’d put into the artists impression is a bit of cloud cover, maybe.
The view of the sky from the surface of Mars is blue, like Earth. NASA admitted that they touch those shots “for effect”.
the sky is only blue at sunrise and sunset
How I wish the human race could solve our problems here and explore inner and outer space together. The trillions spent on war could feed and clothe us all and used to expand our understanding of our home. The universe.
It will never happen, but still.
Who cares we should be looking after our own planet
Alan, we may need a new planet. Mars may become important in the same way as the USA was. Who says we must only live on one planet?
The fact that there was once water on Mars is old news. The mainstream news is only catching on now?
Read the first 2 lines of the article please.
It says that in the article, this is not news of water on the planet, it is news of the remnants of a particular ocean.
Ah crap, apologies folks. I read the article but the first couple of lines must have indeed escaped my attention! Whoops.
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